So, you wanna be a filmmaker, eh? Find out what it's really like to live the life of a fiercely independent filmmaker from award-winning filmmaker and Filmmakers Alliance founder, Jacques Thelemaque. A regular catalogue of anecdotes, insights, nightmares, facts, fictions, tips, tricks, cautionary tales and more....

The feature is a different story and circumstance, but very similar approach and aesthetic. "Connection" follows the mood-drenched, but sometimes subtly comic, journey of a couple during their first experience at a swinger's party. The film will use a direct, honest story-telling style that creates a "fly on the wall" experience. However, key subjective moments in the film take us a step deeper inside this dynamic.
We're having a SINGLE DAY fundraising campaign - MAY 30TH - with a LIVE webathon done old school, Jerry Lewis-style. To see it, click HERE: Why a single day? Because there's no point in hassling you for support for weeks on end. Let's just have some fun and get on with it. I'll start broadcasting from midnight of Wednesday the 29th and will be on air continuously until midnight of Thurday, the 30th.
I'll mostly be talking and having various film people come on to chat, but will also be having various performers on the LIVE guest channel throughout the 24 hour period. Please check back for the full schedule. To see the LIVE guest performances on the day, click HERE and scroll down:Finally, would love to have YOU call in to chat. Here's my number: 323-397-2164. You'll see me talking to you on the broadcast. If I'm in the middle of something, leave your number and I'll call you back. You can also Skype me and we can both be on the webcast. My Skype name is jacquesthelemaque.Beyond all that, would love as much support as you are comfortable with, of course. Let's hit our goal and turn this unique fundraising process into a real success story.
Thanks so much for your support, however it shapes up. Best, J.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

If you haven't already noticed, from time to time, I'll be posting crowdfunding projects you can support to which I have a personal relationship and/or I think are just really awesome.
Here's two very good ones, both from the Filmmakers Alliance family....

Amanda Palmer has made an art of asking for help. In May 2012, the singer-songwriter ran a 30-day Kickstarter campaign seeking $100,000 to finance a new album, a tour, and an art book. 24,883 fans contributed and she raised $1,192,793 (five times more than any other Kickstarter music project).

Her campaign video is one of the best crowdfunding pitches ever. It conveys her goals, her passion, and her persona in 3 minutes. Her music drives the video and her spirit makes it infectious and irresistible.

Amanda’s recent TED talk on The Art of Asking is required viewing for filmmakers and other artists determined to maintain their creative independence. More than 2.7 million people have watched it in two months.

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Wanna Know About Me? Read....

Born in Brooklyn. Moved to Colorado in 1969. Moved to Tehran, Iran in 1976. Went to Los Angeles in 1980.

After
attending both USC and UCLA in the 80's, Jacques secured a
3-picture writing deal with Imagine Entertainment.

In 1993,
Jacques co-founded Filmmakers Alliance. As
President, he built the grassroots collective into an important
independent filmmaking community and resource
organization with films screening at every major
festival in the world. He’s overseen the production
of hundreds of films (mostly shorts) and developed
a wide range of innovative and dynamic filmmaking
support programs.

In 2005,
he was named Chief Community Officer of the festival submission/filmmaker
support site, Withoutabox.com

Jacques and partner Liam Finn formed FA Productions in 2004, of which they are
Co-Presidents. Jacques has produced several feature films including "Shock
Television", ""The Dogwalker", "Within",
"Midnight Movie" and "The Revenant" and is a co-producer on
Brooklyn Reptyle’s "Audie and the Wolf". He most recently produced a
national ad spot for Coke Zero.

His
writer-director filmography includes the feature film "The Dogwalker"
(Los Angeles Film Festival, Hong Kong International Film Festival, Best First
Feature - Cinequest Film Festival), as well as the shorts "My Last Day On
Earth" (Seattle International Film Festival. Ashland Independent Film
Festival), "Transaction" (Sundance Film Festival, winner of the Grand
Prix du Jury Award in the Labo Competition at the Clermont-Ferrand
International Short Film Festival), "Infidelity In Equal Parts"
(Sundance Film Festival, Los Angeles Film Festival), "Egg" (Mill Valley
Film Festival, Best Comedy Short - Cinequest Film Festival, Jury Award for Best
Short – Methodfest) and "Love Without Socks" (AFI International Film
Festival). Jacques has recently completed two new feature film scripts,
"Rust", and "Hurricane Jane" as well as the short script
for "RedWhite And Blue"
as one of ten filmmakers involved in the feature-length omnibus project.He's also written over a dozen short
scripts for3rd Page a new
writing/filmmaking collective he helps manage. He begins shooting his newest
feature “Connection” in early 2014.

Jacques
also self-distributed his feature film "The The Dogwalker" in 2006 as
well as worked on the distribution team for "America So Beautiful" in
2004.

Jacques
has been a juror, guest lecturer or invited speaker for many film schools, film
festivals, film organizations, workshops, and other film-related events. He
recently taught and consulted part-time at AMDA in Hollywood. He’s formerly sat
on the advisory board for The Los Angeles Independent Film Festival (now the
Los Angeles Film Festival), the IFP Emerging Filmmaker Labs, The Ashland
Independent Film Festival, The Santa Monica Film Festival, The Silver Lake Film
Festival and the Downtown Film Festival.

Jacques
has also programmed screening events and has been a programming associate for
the Los Angeles Film Festival since 2011.

CineThoughts

The cinema is not an art which films life: the cinema is something between art and life. Unlike painting and literature, the cinema both gives to life and takes from it, and I try to render this concept in my films. Literature and painting both exist as art from the very start; the cinema doesn't. - Jean-Luc GodardTo have a life as a filmmaker, you must continue to make films. Like filmmaking, being a filmmaker is a process. It demands education, experience and exposure.The most difficult thing in the world is to reveal yourself, to express what you have to. As an artist, I feel that we must try many things, but above all we must dare to fail. You must be willing to risk everything to really express it all. - John Cassavetes

Good is the enemy of great. Look beyond praise to the truth of what you're creating.

Juxtaposing a person with an environment that is boundless, collating him with a countless number of people passing by close to him and far away, relating a person to the whole world, that is the meaning of cinema. - Andrei Tarkovsky

Be a true filmmaker, a true creative being. Not a merchant. Make films from and for your soul.Some rainy winter Sunday when there's a little boredom, you should carry a gun. Not to shoot yourself, but to know exactly that you're always making a choice. - Lina Wertmuller

To tell you the truth, in my work, love is always in opposition to the elements. It creates dilemmas. It brings in suffering. We can't live with it, and we can't live without it. You'll rarely find a happy ending in my work. - Krzysztof Kieslowski"I mean simply to say that I want my characters to suggest the background in themselves, even when it is not visible. I want them to be so powerfully realized that we cannot imagine them apart from their physical and social context even when we see them in empty space." - Michelangelo Antonioni

I formulated my own directing style in my own head, proceeding without any unnecessary imitation of others…for me there was no such thing as a teacher. I have relied entirely on my own strength. - Yasujiro Ozu

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Click the text link below to find out what events are going on in the world of independent film. If you know of something cool and film-related going on, please let me know at jacques@filmmakersalliance.com and I'll probably post it.